Ding: D'Antoni needs to rein in personalities

And Mike D'Antoni is and always has been one to shy away from confrontation, to keep it simple instead of digging psychologically deep, and to care so much and so quickly that he'll publicly mutter dismay or cut with sarcasm in the heat of a moment.

None of that has been or will be the right way for the Lakers' coach to act until one and only one thing changes: D'Antoni's Lakers need to win.

First win a little more to crack open the lid on this pressure cooker, then win a lot to validate what he believes in, and ultimately win a championship to prove once and for all that he indeed is fine just being himself.

But the reality for now is that D'Antoni has let the big personalities of his star players ricochet around the locker room without being put at ease or put in place, let chronic missteps in team play at both ends of the court exist with little practice correction or video breakdown, and offended pretty much every already-on-edge person vested in the Lakers' cause with flippant, emotional remarks to the media that make it sound like circumstances or his own players are to blame for not winning.

In a different world, it'd be just fine to give things time to settle in on their own while expressing public frustration when they don't.

In fact, that is sort of the way Phil Jackson coaches his teams. For all the Jackson loyalists who imagine much different results if he were here, he usually has benefited from having more time to let change occur gradually.

That's not to say Jackson would've handled these Lakers in anywhere near the same way as D'Antoni has, but it's only fair to recognize that D'Antoni hasn't had that time.

The Lakers play the defending NBA champion Miami Heat today, and it's easy to see some similarities in where the Lakers are now and where the Heat once was — a collection of superstars not automatically dominating, a coach widely presumed incapable of corralling them to go in the same direction.

With more time, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra proved that his way that mentor Pat Riley always envisioned as worthwhile could really be the right way.

And much-maligned Lakers center Dwight Howard's perspective on previously much-maligned Heat forward LeBron James works just as well as a backdrop for D'Antoni and Spoelstra.

"People forget about all the negative stuff when you win," Howard said. "That's the only thing that cures everything else."

For now, D'Antoni hasn't gotten Howard to win — or even play the consistently focused defense-first basketball that the Lakers need from Howard to have a chance to win. On offense, D'Antoni hasn't come close to turning Howard into the unstoppable pick-and-roll force everyone expected.

The latest strange developments have been Dwight Howard Sr. criticizing D'Antoni's management skills in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Howard saying Saturday that he regularly and meaningfully speaks to the coach he forced the Orlando Magic to dismiss last season: Stan Van Gundy.

"Despite everything that happened," Howard said, "we're still good friends."

(Even though Dwight Sr. suggested his son would re-sign with the Lakers at season's end, Van Gundy told the Orlando Sentinel's Mike Bianchi two weeks ago that it was less than 50-50 that Howard would re-sign.)

Howard already has proved to be a grass-is-greener type, so it makes sense that he appreciates Van Gundy even more after this initial dissatisfaction with D'Antoni. Howard has been miffed at playing D'Antoni's pick-and-roll style as opposed to Howard's preferred post-up style — even though Howard and point guard Steve Nash from the beginning universally were expected to form a dynamic pick-and-roll combo under D'Antoni.

Although both players have had injury issues, D'Antoni acknowledged what a bust Howard and Nash have been together.

"The timing's not there," D'Antoni said. "Whether they need more time, I don't know. They're not clicking right now. We've got to keep working on it. ... I thought for sure that would be in the bank and that's easy, and the rest of the stuff might be harder. Well, that has not come through and that has hurt us."

The Nash-Howard pick and roll pretty much epitomizes what has happened for D'Antoni with the Lakers: Big, bold promises for how fun, easy and exciting this would be have gone unfulfilled.

So the initial faith and enthusiasm from fans in D'Antoni's simpler, faster approach have gone unrewarded. That has made the disappointment even greater — and led to questions of whether D'Antoni is a good enough personality manager, no matter that his offensive ideas on spacing and shooting are proven enough that Gregg Popovich is now using them to keep winning in San Antonio.

Even Nash, D'Antoni's longtime partner in Phoenix, indirectly is condemning his coach when he continually cites the Lakers' need to execute a singular team plan instead of letting individual agendas interfere.

"Find a way to work together," Nash still was preaching after the Lakers' last game Friday in Charlotte.

His point is that the Lakers' players need to get past the way each of them used to play at the height of individual stardom or the way each of them prefers to play now.

However much we've already seen who D'Antoni really is, what we need to see is the Lakers consistently playing the way D'Antoni really wants them to play.

Therein you see how much more important it is to be a personality manager than a basketball strategist in NBA coaching today.